Inferno

Chapter Twelve

I woke to a throbbing pain in my head.

“GAHHHHHH! OW!”

“Master Coalman! Are you alright sir?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. My head just hurts.”

“Okay. Can I get you anything sir?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Okay. I’ll leave you be then.”

Alfred left and I was alone again. I didn’t like being alone. It reminded me of when the voice was there. I pulled my knees up to my chest and sat.

I don’t know how long I had been sitting in that position and staring at nothing but I was brought back to reality by a loud grumble in my stomach. I hadn’t had anything to eat since last night and it was now 1 pm. I walked over to the rope and look at it. There is a note, pull for service. Fair enough. I tug hard at the red velvet rope. Nothing seems to happen until I hear a knock at the door.

“Yes Master Coalman?”

“Oh, Alfred. I was feeling a bit hung-“

I was cut off by Alfred, “Right away sir.”

“Thanks.”

Once again I am left alone.

Alfred rushes back into the room with a plate of pastries and sandwiches. He bends down and shows me the platter then tells me what is what. I take a salmon, cucumber and cream cheese sandwich and then a croissant.

“Thank you Alfred.”

“You’re most welcome sir.”

He begins to walk away but I stop him.

“Um, I know this sounds weird but, can you stay with me?”

He looks at me with a shocked expression which is then replaced with a calming smile.

“Of course Master Coalman. Anything you wish.”

We spent the day playing video games, watching animes, (I was mean to be recovering from yesterday) and eating snacks. At 3pm I heard a knock at my door. Alfred quickly brushed himself off and answered the door. Two people were talking for a while until I walked up to the door.

“Who is it Alfred”

He turned and moved to the side to reveal who was at the door. Belle was standing there in her uniform. She had a small smile. I blushed quickly remembering that I was in pyjama pants and a mexicore shirt.

“Hi, I’m Belle. We haven’t met. I heard that you have fire power.”

“Um… Yeah. I’m Ash.”

“I have finished my classes for today and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out.”

“Where can we go?”

“Well, I have a shared dorm so I thought that we could stay at yours.”

I quickly nodded at Alfred and then stepped outside closing the door behind me.

“What were you planning on doing?”

“I don’t know. I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out.”

“Aren’t you scared?”

“What…?”

“You know, that I’ll burn you.”

“No. Besides, I could put it out anyway.”

“Oh yeah… you’re ice.”

She turned to face the ground and… blushed?! SHE BLUSHED! She likes me! How am I going to tell her about Emily? I mean, yeah, Belle’s pretty, but I don’t like her like I like Emily. I don’t like anyone like I like Emily.

“Are you okay?”

She looked back up at me. “I’m fine.” She seemed to have hope in her eyes, like she thought that I cared about her. This was going to be harder than I thought…

I opened the door to a clean dorm. There were no chip packets or cans of soda on the table and the linen was changed. I quickly changed my pyjama pants for skinny jeans in the bathroom and came back out. I saw her sitting on the couch looking into her lap.

“Sorry, were you waiting for me?”

“Um… yes.”

“Oh.”

After an awkward ten minutes we started to get to know each other. I learnt that Belle found out she had powers when she was five when she made it snow in her bedroom and I told her how I melted my bathtub. We laughed for hours until her stomach suddenly growled.

“Hungry?” I asked sarcastically.

“No.” She looked in her lap.

I looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“But I heard your tummy growl. You’re clearly hungry. When’s the last time you ate?”

“I should leave.”

“Wait!”

Before I could ask her anymore questions she had left. Was she starving herself? Why?

{A\N}

I warn you, it gets a lot darker from here on out so... yeah.

- chookyj